Auditory perceptual and memory capacities of the left and right hemispheres
Date
1974
Authors
Haydon, Shane P.
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Abstract
Twenty-four right handed female college students were presented with dichotic verbal sounds and twenty-four right handed female college students were presented with dichotic non-language sounds. Following the dichotic presentation Ss were required to identify from a group of monaural recognition foils those sounds which had been presented dichotically. On half of the trials the Ss were required to recognize first the sound which had been presented to the left ear and then recognize the sound which had been presented to the right ear. On the remaining trials this procedure was reversed. The dependent measure was the number of correctly recognized sounds. Those Ss presented with verbal sounds showed a right ear preference when recognition was required soon after presentation (mean, approximately eleven seconds). This right ear preference was also shown when sounds were identified later (mean, approximately twenty-five seconds) following the preceding recognition of left ear stimuli. These data are interpreted as reflecting dominant perceptual and memory capacity of the left hemisphere as compared to the right hemisphere. Those Ss presented with non-language sounds showed no evidence for either a right or left hemisphere dominance in the perception or retention of these non-language sounds.